Initial Teacher Education Courses Under the View of Prospective Teachers
Conference:
ECER 2013
Format:
Paper

Session Information

10 SES 02 D, Student Teachers and their Preparation

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-10
15:15-16:45
Room:
A-105
Chair:
Kari Smith
Discussant:
Hannele Niemi

Contribution

A great challenge faced by higher education teachers is how to work with the students who enter the teacher education programs: students who are very young, who come from emerging social classes, having poor access to cultural goods and a history of difficulties in their school life. Students who want to get their degree as fast as possible, but resist to do hard work.  By the time they will initiate their professional activities they will certainly face new demands in schools, such as how to teach students in a changing society. Some research questions emerged from this situation: What does the student expect from the initial teacher education course? And from the teaching profession? Are the teacher education courses preparing the students to be good teachers in this changing world? How are those courses preparing the students? What are the subjects and activities the students consider most effective to became a good teacher? Those questions led us to design a research aimed to analyze the contribution of curricular subjects and practices of teacher education courses to professionally prepare prospective teachers. The main focus of the research was the students’ views of the teacher education course. We tried to know their conceptions and beliefs of the teaching profession and to depict their evaluative judgment of curricular activities – subjects and practices of the teacher education course. To know the expectations, the beliefs, values and concepts of prospective teachers about the teaching profession is crucial for teacher educators who can submit them to a critical analysis and with the support of a theoretical framework review their teaching practices.  The managers of teacher education courses can also take advantage of the knowledge produced by the research because it can give clues on how to improve their courses. Analyzing the curricular proposals of the teacher education course taking into account its goals and means can disclose important features of the process of initial teacher education and can offer crucial elements for its improvement. The theoretical framework of the research considered writings of Roldão (2007) who help to understand and discuss the concept of professional knowledge. Gimeno Sacristán (1995) and Ramalho, Nuñes and Gauthier (2004) were the main reference to discuss the concept of teaching professionality, or the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that constitute the specificity of being a teacher.  The authors agree that the process of teaching professionality involves many factors, such as the personal and professional, the cognitive and affective, the individual and collective.  These multiple aspects affect and constitute the school, family and professional experiences that compose the know-how of the teachers, in which are included knowledge, values, skills, modes of perception and understanding the reality which surrounds them. 

 

 

Method

The subjects of the study were the students enrolled in the last semesters of the teacher education courses from seven universities (two of them are public schools, four are community colleges and one is private), located in the states of the South, Southeast and Northeast of the country. The courses in which the students were enrolled were Pedagogy, Language, History, Mathematics and Biology. The main method of data collection was the group discussion, similar to the focus group, which favored obtaining data without detaching them from the context of the participants, helping to emerge their visions of the world and their representations. The interest of the researcher, in this case, is not only to understand the experiences and opinions of the participants, but also to know the collective experience or their common positions related to a certain topic. Thirteen discussion groups were held with students from the teacher education courses of the various institutions. In the beginning of each group sessions the participants were asked to fill out a characterization. The groups were composed of 7 to 10 participants and the discussions lasted from 1.5 to 2 hours. The sessions were recorded and transcribed for later analysis.

Expected Outcomes

The results of the study allowed to point out common features across groups as far as the quality of the teacher education course, in spite of the differences among the universities and courses and the many differences across the students. The data showed that teacher education courses can help students to identify themselves with the profession and to construct professional knowledge, but also showed the need to review the curricular structure of the courses and of the teacher education projects. The data further indicated the importance of curricular activities that promote students’ knowledge of schools reality and help students to better understand what goes on in school contexts, such as participation in social and community projects, doing practicum activities and involvement in research projects. The curricular practices valued by the students are those that offer observation of successful teaching experiences. The disciplines and activities that most contribute, to their teaching professionality, in the opinion of the students, are those that have the mediation of a teacher educator who deeply know his area of knowledge, value his area of specialty and is able to transfer to the students the passion for the subject area.

References

Altet, M.; Paquay, L.; Perrenoud, P. (2003) A profissionalização dos formadores de professores. Porto Alegre: Artmed. André, M. et al. (2010). O trabalho docente do professor formador no contexto atual das reformas e das mudanças no mundo contemporâneo. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagógicos, 91 (227), 122-143. Contreras, J. (2002) A autonomia dos professores. São Paulo: Cortez. Flick, U. (2004). Uma introdução à Pesquisa Qualitativa. Porto Alegre: Bookman. Gatti, B. (2009) Formação de professores: Condições e problemas atuais. Revista Brasileira de Formação de Professores, v. 1, n. 1, 90-102. Imbernón, F. (2001) Formação docente e profissional: formar-se para a mudança e incerteza. 4.ª ed. São Paulo: Editora Cortez. Gimeno Sacristán, J. (1995). Consciência e acção sobre a prática como libertação profissional dos professores. In Nóvoa, A. (org.) Profissão Professor, 63-91, Porto: Porto Editora. Ramalho, B. L.; Nunez, I. B; Gauthier, C. (2004). Formar o professor, profissio¬nalizar o ensino: perspectivas e desafios. 2.ª ed. Porto Alegre: Sulina. Roldão, M. do C. (2007). Função docente: natureza e construção do conhecimento profissional. Revista Brasileira de Educação. V.12, n. 34, 94-103. Roldão (2005). Profissionalidade docente em análise: especificidades do ensino supe¬rior e não superior. Nuances: Estudos sobre Educação. Ano XI, v. 12, n. 13, 105-126. Shulman, L. (2004) Knowledge and teaching: foundations of the new reform (1987). In Shulman, L. (org). The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on teaching and learning to teach. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Weller, W. (2010). Grupos de discussão: aportes teóricos e metodológicos. In Weller, W.; PFAFF, N. Metodologia da pesquisa qualitativa em educação: teoria e prática. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 54-66. Zeichner, K. (2010). Repensando as conexões entre a formação na universidade e as experiências de campo na formação de professores em faculdades e universidades. Educação. vol. 35, n.° 3, 479-504

Author Information

Marli Andre (presenting / submitting)
PUC SP
São Paulo
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São PAulo
São PAulo
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Didática
Niterói - Rio de Janeiro
Universidade de Taubaté
Pedagogia
Taubaté, SP
UNIVILLE, SC, Brazil
FCC, SP, Brazil

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